The Court of Mahaut, Countess of Artois (1302-‐1329), through its Bookkeeping Practices
Résumé
The household accounts of Mahaut, countess of Artois, are an essential source to enable us to understand how both the Household and the court functioned. They were kept by a treasurer, each account covering a 4-month period. A fair number the many accounts thus produced are still available today: for the whole reign of Mahaut, more than a third of the 84 accounts that were supposedly produced still subsist in the archives, the last 15 years of the countess reign being best documented. These accounts give some insight into the Household organization, its hierarchy and the tasks of the officers, but also on how the court functioned on a daily basis. This paper aims at showing how these accounts, by allowing understanding the links between the ruler and her officers, shed a better light on the institutionalization process of the Household in 14th century Artois. Another issue I intend to address is how these accounts provide and build an image of the court as a place where meetings and discussions were held, at the very heart of the county political life.
Domaines
Histoire
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